Jan Müller is happy that male dominance has taken a break at the Reeperbahn Festival.
There are days when you can experience male dominance taking a short break, at least in certain angles. I recently felt this way at the Reeperbahn Festival. First, I sit on the podium at re:publica. Together with Steffi Groth, the author of the Tocotronic podcast “This Band is Tocotronic”. I’m not a fan of identity politics arguments. Nevertheless, I say with conviction: The Tocotronic podcast is also so wonderful because Steffi is a woman and was therefore able to focus on us in a way that a male journalist would not have been able to do.
After our conversation, I met Florian Gerlinger, wandering around the Holy Spirit Field. He tells me about his new band Grüner Star. I would highly recommend it to you. Because the band name is good and because I recommend everything that includes Gerlinger. Nils, formerly of the Schneller Autos Organization, is also a singer with Grüner Star. By the way, I once went on a bike tour to Münster with him and Mirco (from the band with the very good name Gunsch) in the 80s. 300 kilometers of headwind.
Outside pop, inside punk
Florian tells me that you can watch a secret concert of tears on the Heiligengeistfeld in just a few minutes. My heart is skipping because I’m a fan of this band. I came across them because they covered “Duel of the Last”, a song by the apocalyptic German punk band ChaosZ. NNDW is a good genre if it is able to allow itself such bizarre quirks. The performance is great, singer Gwen Dolyn is wonderful. Outside pop, inside punk.
After the performance, I walk quickly into the Nochtspeicher because there is violence going on there. I’m not a noise rock adept at heart, but I don’t give in to Patrick Wagner’s music. However, it is also completely clear: The band Stimme would be much less fascinating if Patrick wasn’t so wonderfully flanked by guitarist Helen Henfing and bassist Jasmin Rilke. The two have the reins in their hands and counteract Patrick’s rants with fascinating nonchalance. Unfortunately I can only hear two songs and am still deaf for half an hour. Besides, I have to hurry up again.
Experimenting, discussing, learning and listening to music
At the end of my mini trip to the Reeperbahn Festival I watched the Pretenders concert. Luckily, I was able to convince Tobias Levin that we should watch it together. There is probably no better accompaniment to a concert by this band than him. Through him I really got to know the Pretenders. In 2001 we had recorded with Tocotronic at his Electric Avenue Studio. It had been months of upheaval and redefinition for us. We took our time. For experimenting, discussing, learning and listening to music.
I still remember Tobias storming around the studio excitedly after playing me “Precious,” the opening track from the Pretenders’ first self-titled album. The song played an important role in the arrangement of “This Boy is Tocotonic”. This song was the opener of our white album produced by Tobias.
Chrissie Hynde is incredibly cool and amazing at 71 years old
Now back to the Reeperbahn Festival: The Pretenders are playing at Große Freiheit 36. Fortunately, the store was able to free itself from its lateral thinker ghost. When the band takes the stage, I’m immediately blown away. Chrissie Hynde is incredibly cool and amazing at 71 years old.
They start with “Losing My Sense Of Taste” from the new album. “I don’t even care about rock and roll / All my old favorites seem tired and old” says the lyrics. However, that doesn’t apply to the Pretenders themselves. I always enjoy realizing that rock can’t be killed. Especially not for such a long time have incredibly good protagonists like Chrissie Hynde been seen on stage. By the way, she has a serious sensitivity to photographers of all stripes. She lives this out at the concert with humor or severity.
Meanwhile, I’m making a lot of internal notes. For example: Be sure to get white ankle boots for the stage, like the ones the guitarist wears. Or: At the next concert, go on stage with a denim jacket and fold up the collar on the left side seemingly at random, like the bass player. Or: Purple is the best color for guitars. In a recent interview, Chrissie Hynde said: “No one has ever told me what to wear, what to sing about or what to think. Nobody from the record company ever told me to wear sexy clothes or anything like that. No one would have dreamed of saying something like that to me.”
On stage she embodies exactly this charisma that is able to crush oppressive impulses with just her aura. Inspired, I stagger around the neighborhood with Tobias for a bit. He shows me where he went for pizza with Mark E. Smith. As I walk into the hotel I think: man, woman or whatever. The time will come when this will no longer matter.
This column first appeared in Musikexpress issue 12/2023.